Ribbon
by Errand Girl
Summary: The encounter outside the great hall wasn't the first time Draco and Harriet met. Fem!Harry.


_Harriet timidly entered the shop where she was to buy her robes for Hogwarts. She understood why Hagrid had left for her to do this on her own, but what on earth made him leave without first giving her more detailed instructions? Harriet looked around at all the fabrics, nervousness and uncertainty coming off of her in waves._

_"Hey." Harriet turned around to see a boy with blond, slicked back hair, wearing a black robe that had just been fitted. His eyes were a pale blue-ish grey. He smiled at her. "You going to Hogwarts School too?"_

_"Ah..." Harriet smiled timidly, averting her eyes and nodded with an, "mmm..."_

_The boy smiled at her. "Well then allow me to be your guide, Princess."_

_The boy helped her get the proper attire and helped ensure that it was fitted properly. The last one was not easy, considering that she was small for someone her age. As Harriet was about to exit the shop, the boy stoped her. Before Harriet could ask what was up, then tied a bright silver ribbon in her hair. Harriet stroked the ribbon then turned confused eyes on the boy._

_He smiled. "A princess should never be without her tiara."_

_Harriet blushed a bright pink and left quickly._

* * *

Slowly Harriet opened her eyes to a new day. She sighed, it had been eight years since that day, but she still couldn't let go of it. Back then she had thought that boy was kind and handsome, like a prince coming out of the blue to rescue the damsel. That was before she ran into him again before the sorting ceremony. That was when she found out that his name was Draco Malfoy. But, Malfoy had acted like she was a stranger, even though she was still wearing the silver ribbon he'd given her. And then he'd come out with all of those insults about Ron. One of the few people that had been nice to her in her life, until she got to Hogwarts. It had hurt like those insults had been aimed at her, like he only wanted to be friends with her because she was 'the girl who lived'. Now she was in her seventh year of Hogwarts, everyone had to repeat a year because of Voldemort taking over the school in sixth year.

She sighed and reached over to the night stand to grab her glasses. She looked at her clock, which read 7 am. She didn't have any classes until after lunch, so she decided to go to the Quidditch Field and do some practice. She got changed and tied her sliver ribbon around her ponytail, then quietly tiptoed out.

She flew around the field for an hour before touching down. When she did, Ron and Herminie had arrived to take her to breakfast. As Harriet put her broom away she noticed Ron giving her an odd look.

"What?"

"It's weird seeing you without your ribbon."

Harriet felt her heart stop as, slowly, she reached behind her head to her ponytail. And sure enough, her beautiful silver ribbon was gone. Harriet looked around franticly, hoping to see her ribbon shining in the morning light.

"It must have fallen off while you were flighting." Herminie said gently. "We'll ask the teachers to keep an eye out for it. It'll show up."

* * *

Harriet could hardly eat anything and breakfast and she was looking all over the school until lunch for her beautiful sliver ribbon. All through her classes she was only half paying attention, hoping that Headmaster McGonagall or one of the other teachers would walk through the door, ribbon in hand. Later that afternoon the final straw fell. She'd been sitting outside, with Ron and Herminie trying to coax her into eating something, as she'd hardly eaten anything since she realised that she'd lost her beautiful ribbon, when Crabbe and his group had shown up. Malfoy had stopped hanging out with them after the war.

Crabbe sneered. "Maybe if you took better care of your things ya wouldn't lose them."

"Shove off, Crabbe." Ron snapped.

"Ha. I bet she lost it on purpose."

Before she could stop herself, Harriet had stood up, spun around and slapped Crabbe right across the face. Everyone in the courtyard stared. That had never happened before. Harriet would talk back when Crabbe and his lot had a go at her, but she had never retaliated like that before. Harriet turned and ran off, tears stinging her eyes. No one understood, that ribbon was her most precious thing, now that Hedwig was died. She ran down the halls repeating the one line over and over in her head. 'I need the room. I need the room'. As she came to the hall with the room of requirement, she saw the door begin to materialise. When she reaches it, it is fully formed. She pulls the door open and slips in, pulling it shut behind her. Harriet sniffed sadly for a few minutes before turning around. The room was filled with boxes and boxes of ribbons of all different colours.

Harriet managed a small smile. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up." She said to the room. "But it wasn't the ribbon, as much as the gesture that it meant."

Slowly she made her way over to a space between two boxes of green and gold ribbons. There, she sat on the ground, drew her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them. She wanted to cry, but no tears came. It was as if after the war and the deaths of so many she knew, when she lost one of the things that had helped her through it, she didn't have any tears left.

"Potter?"

Harriet nearly jumped out of her skin at the soft, all too familiar voice. By the door was none other than Draoc Malfoy. The slytherin turned and closed the door behind him, then walked over and sat next to the depressed girl.

"I saw the slap." He said simply.

"So what? You come to rub it in my face?" Harriet snapped.

"No. Just came to see if you needed to talk."

Harriet gave Draco a suspicious look. "Who are you, and what have you done with Draco Malfoy?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Don't misunderstand. I'm only curious about why you slapped Crabbe, and figured you'd need someone to talk to. This works out well for both of us. I get to satisfy my curiosity and you get to get some stuff off your chest."

"I'm not so desperate for someone to talk to that I'd tell you what's going on." Harriet snapped as more tears fell from her eyes.

Draco groaned. "Just what is the big whoop about that damn ribbon anyway?"

"The big whoop?!" Harriet shouted standing up in her rage. "That ribbon was a gift from my first crush you bastard! It was all I had left!"

"A first crush? Seriously? Good God, Potter, you've had that damn ribbon since first year. Shouldn't you be over them by now?" Draco said standing up as well.

"I wouldn't expect **you** to understand. That boy, he was like a prince, when I first met him. But then he turned into a royal jerk. He was the first person I ever felt anything for, still is." Harriet finished the last part in a whisper.

"Whoa, whoa, back up. Eight years, and not only are you still not over this guy, but you **_still,_** have a crush on him?" Draco looked at Harriet as if she was crazy. "For crying out loud, Potter, just find some other guy and date him."

"Oh, sure date some guy I barely know, and who only wants to date me because I'm The-Girl-Who-Lived! Great idea, Malfoy!"

Malfoy groaned. "Alright then fine. If this guy is the reason you're so down in the dump, just go bloody tell him, for Pete sake!"

"Did you completely miss the 'royal jerk' part?"

"Potter, has it ever occurred to you that maybe the guy thought you were interested in Weasly or one of your other many male friends, and that's why he was being a dick?"

"How could he think that?" Harriet asked dumbfounded.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe it had something to do with that scene you made of turning down my offer of friendship back in first year."

"That wasn't friendship you were offering! It was a price tag!"

"Oh? Alright then, let's see if I can get it right the second time then, shall we?"

Harriet gave him a quizzical look. What did he mean by that? Malfoy slowly walked up to her until he was only a meter away. He smiled a truly charming, girl killer smile. The effect certainly wasn't lost on Harriet. Malfoy extended his hand.

"It's nice to meet you. I am Draco Malfoy. You must be Harriet Potter." His grin broadened. "You're cuter that I pictured."

Harriet's face flashed as red as her Gryffindor robes. "W-w-w-w-wha?"

Malfoy chuckled. "And you're reactions are even cuter. If you would allow it," Malfoy dropped to one knee and quickly brought Harriet's left hand to his lips for a gentle kiss, before looking her in the eyes. "I would very much like to be your boyfriend."

"B-b-b..." Harriet was at a loss for words. Where the hell did this come from?

Malfoy chuckled again. "You know, I'm very flattered at the fact that you retained a crush on me for eight years, even after I, as you put it, 'acted like a royal jerk'." He stood up. "But you have no idea how long I've been wanting to do this."

Gently he cupped Harriet's face, while she was still in shock at what Malfoy had said. He knew? He knew the whole time that it was him she was talking about? Harriet was broken out of her thoughts by Malfoy's mouth closing on hers. It was soft gentle, completely different from how she'd expected a kiss from Malfoy to be. But this was infinitely better than anything she'd imagined. Timidly, Harriet kissed back, trying not to let her inexperience affect her. Her hands tightly gripped the fabric at the back of Malfoy's robes. Her knees felt weak, like she would fall if Malfoy let go of her.

Eventually, the need for air was too much, and they broke away. Malfoy, who was far less out of breath than Harriet, reached into the box of green ribbons then into the box of gold, pulling out one of each. After this he gently set them both on the floor where they had been sitting before. Harriet was beginning to regain her senses now and watched curiously as Malfoy pulled out his wand, and with it, fused the two ribbons together so they made green and gold stripes across it. Smiling at his work Malfoy leaned into Harriet, kissing her again. While the girl was thoroughly distracted, Malfoy reached behind her and pulled her hair out of its ponytail. He always liked it better when Harriet wore her hair down. Then he tied the green and gold ribbon in her hair on the right side.

Malfoy pulled back and smirked at Harriet's bright red face. "It can't replace the ribbon of our first meeting, but this one has another meaning." He leaned in to whisper the last part in Harriet's ear. "This one is the memory of our first kiss. And the promise of many more to come." He stood and helped Harriet to her feet. He stole a final peck at Harriet's lips. "See you in class, Harriet."

With that he left. Harriet stood there for a few minutes, completely awestruck. She gently stroked the ribbon that Draco had put in her hair. She grinned.

"YES!"

* * *

Later that day, Ron and Herminie noticed the new ribbon and the sudden cheer in Harriet's attitude. They contemplated asking about it, until they saw the looks she and Malfoy were shooting each other. They grinned, they had just made a killing in the 'Harriet love life' betting pool.


End file.
